At What Age Should Children Enter Kindergarten? A Question for Policy Makers and Parents

Do school entry laws affect educational attainment and labor market outcomes?

“…We believe that in addition to getting at the net 1 A current debate in the education literature tries to understand if the cause of this academic disadvantage for young kids is due to their relative age to peers or due to their absolute age at which they are exposed to a material. For a review of this debate see Stipek (2002). 2 Allen and Barnsley (1993) report that boys born after the cut off date for school eligibility in Canada are more likely to thrive in professional sports, and Fredriksson and Ockert (2005) found a negative impact on wages for the youngest individuals in a cohort in Sweden.…”

The relationship between school-entry age and academic achievement in Lebanon. (c2011)

“…Researchers often refer to the age of the child in relation to other children in the same class as relative age (Aliprantis, 2010;Bedard & Dhuey, 2006;Deming & Dynarski, 2008;Dhuey & Lipscomb, 2008Dobkin & Ferreira, 2010;Elder & Lubotsky, 2009;Evans-Becker, 2003;Graue & DiPerna, 2000;Kern & Friedman, 2009;Puhani & Weber, 2007;Stipek, 2002;Weil, 2007;Yesil-Dagli, 2006;Zill, Loomis, & West, 1997). Large differences between the ages of same-grade students arise in countries and school districts that have a single annual intake window.…”

“…School authorities accelerated the trend to increase the minimum age requirement of school entrance. The age increase was motivated by the belief that older children perform better in school (Stipek, 2002;Lincove & Painter, 2006). Educational policy makers viewed raising the age of entry as a cheap way to get results.…”

“…(Bracey, 2000;Hatch, & Freeman, 1988;Lin, Freeman, & Chu, 2009;Martin, 2009;Meisels, 1992;Noel, & Newman, 2003;Shepard, & Smith, 1988). The escalation of the academic demands in kindergarten played a major role in raising the age of school entry in the US over the past several decades (Deming and Dynarski, 2008;Stipek, 2002;Zill et al, 1997 By comparison, the modal entry age for kindergarten in the US is five years to be completed by the beginning of September of the school year (Stipek, 2002). In view of the fact that the curriculum of kindergarten II of the Lebanese program closely resembles the kindergarten curriculum in US schools, Lebanese children are expected to acquire knowledge and skills similar to their US counterparts when they are almost a full year younger.…”

“…Researchers have highlighted many problems that limit the usefulness of extant research for making inferences (Datar, 2003;Stipek, 2002;Yesil-Dagli, 2006). This study capitalizes on the following advantages as it attempts to shed light on the relevant issues and to respond to some of the concerns that have been raised in the research literature:…”